The Things He Missed Along The Way
by Sabaku no Hime
Summary: he survived being crushed to death on top of that, he's lost everything. With nothing left to cling to, and no one to save him, where will he go from here? KimimaroX?not sure yet. Rating went up to M. You have been warned.
1. Chapter 1

**The Things He Missed**

Genre:

Summary: He should have been crushed to death. That was what was supposed to happen, but he wasn't; he was barely alive, but he wasn't dead yet. What was he going to do now?

Notes: I know I should be concentrating on my other fics, especially since it's been a few weeks since I wrote on call me, but I've been having a serious block. Induced by too much work, but a block nonetheless. I just, for the first time, saw the episodes where they hit the Valley of the End. It wasn't what I expected, but it wasn't bad. I found it kind of sad that the sound five all died, especially Kimimaro; they spent so much time building his personality, or history at least, and then he died. Pity.

So I'm writing this. Hopefully he won't be so hopelessly screwed up for long, but you can never tell.

**The Things That Were Missed**

A slight figure, buried under tons of sand jerked spastically, unable to take a breath, unable to move, but still living. He couldn't figure out how. He should have died.

He'd wanted to die.

He was so sick, so tired, so sad because of his abysmal failure. Why was he still alive?

Scratching sounded above him, what seemed like miles as he attempted to breathe through all the compressed sand. It wasn't working, he was starting to suffocate.

The slight body jerked again, in pain this time from the lack of oxygen. What a fitting death, he thought to himself. He was supposed to be crushed, but the damn kekkei genkai had saved him, forming an armor of bone under his skin, preventing the deadly crush.

But it wasn't saving him from suffocation.

He jerked again, trying desperately to move his fingers, bruised and battered skin, but the insides of him, they were all fine.

Way to die. He'd hoped, selfishly, not to suffer too much at his death, since he'd suffered for so long being terminally ill. He would have shrugged if he could. Orochimaru sama had taught him the meaning of irony and selfishness.

The scratching noise came again, and his hair was being pulled at, roughly. He could feel something scratching his scalp, drawing blood, and tried to look up, failing miserably, since his face was still encased in sand.

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

He would never be certain how the old woman did it, but she'd managed to clear the sand from his face moments before he was to die. He could feel it coming, like an orgasm about to hit, all he'd needed to do was stretch just the last tiny bit and he'd never worry again.

Slowly, agonizingly, she'd dug him out, her fetid breath and sweaty stench offending his nostrils. Her stringy gray hair had fallen from her hat, and hung limply in her face, dripping sweat on him once in a while.

When he'd been able to move his arms, he'd ordered her to stop digging, and done it himself.

He'd been no faster than she, and when he dragged his legs out, he was as smelly and dirty as she, who had fed him water from her canteen when he'd paused digging.

He hadn't been that far under. Maybe jumping at the last minute had helped. He was also glad he'd sent out a clone after the boys. He knew they weren't dead, but he'd done some sort of damage, he hoped.

'Ye are not… right,' the old woman said, panting as she lay back a ways from the hole they'd created.

'Hn,' he replied, out of breath as well.

'What be wrong with ye?'

He simply shrugged, and the old woman stood slowly, resting heavily on a sturdy wooden stick that served as a cane.

'Come with Adela, young one. I'll try to heal ye, but we need to get back to my home first.' She told him, voice raspy and crackly as if she didn't use it often.

He shrugged slowly and got to his feet with a good deal of difficulty while she spoke and held one of his arms. He wasn't sure why he didn't just shrug her arm off, since he didn't really like being touched, but he didn't. He was almost grateful for her help, even though he knew he was going to die soon.

They rested for several hours, relaxing by the hole, glad no one was coming. Kimimaro was pretty certain that no one would be by here for a while. His bone shards had retreated back into the ground, and back into him, and they lay there, spent.

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Many hours later, when the sun had started to set, the pair of them stood up. Adela hadn't spoken much, and he was glad of it. He didn't want to speak. He just wanted to die in peace.

She led him slowly through the ruined forest, past the dead body of his comrade Tayuya. He wiped at the dried blood that had oozed out of her mouth and stared at her crushed body sadly.

Well, he'd assume he'd be what was called sad, since she was a teammate, but he didn't really care. He'd wanted to kill her himself.

End chapter.

**Sabaku no Hime:** that was pathetic. I've never written a chapter so short, so I guess this is a prologue. This idea is buzzing around my head, has been for a few days. So I guess I'll see where it goes. This is going to be a shortie, smaller than Call Me.

Anywho, let me know what'cha think. Or not. We'll see. I'll update call me when you're sober soon, but I've been having problems with the plot. It's in a bit of a knot, and I know the ends of it, but the middle of it is just a great, big mess right now.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Things He Missed**

Disclaimer… standard. I won't belabor the point.

Sabaku no Hime. I'm trying to pull out of his head now, since he's so hard to write. We'll see how it ends up…

**2. The Things He Missed…**

Adela led her charge back to her home slowly, as her bones were frail, and she'd been sedentary for the last several years. 'The bowl told me where to find you. Sand landed at the bottom and I saw a vision of ye,' she told her silent companion.

She didn't expect him to say much, and wans't disappointed. 'The bowl was urgent, as if you had some huge task that cannot wait,' she told him, and he simply followed her. 'I was told to heal you as well as I can so that I may set you out,'

'Hn,' he replied. His dirty hair, formerly white hung in lank threads down his back and his face was coated deeply with sand. She doubted he'd know himself if he saw a mirror right then.

She led him to her small cottage, on the outskirts of a small village, and took him inside where he proceeded to fall unconscious on the third tatami.

Adela decided that she'd best clean him and then try to heal him.

Getting him clean would be a problem though. Her old limbs and her old vows. Instead, she called the neighbor boy, a strapping seventeen year old to clean the young man and lay him on the cot in her main room.

Adela crushed a poultice in her mortar and applied it to his bloodied face. It consisted mostly of witch hazel and peat moss, as well as the mud from her yard that had special properties since four shrine maidens had blessed her garden on the sixth day of the sixth month at sunrise that what she planted may always grow.

Back when there were shrine maidens though.

That was long and long ago though.

She noticed that he was missing several chunks of skin, and debated what to do about that. There was one on his face, on his cheek, that would likely scar for life if something wasn't done about it. His teeth showed through the hole in his face, shining grotesquely, bloody and sandy, clotting and infecting.

She was an herb woman and midwife, she couldn't regrow skin that had been ripped off. The boy needed a medic. A doctor of some sort, but she hadn't the money to pay for it, and doubted he did either, by the look of his clothing. He had no pockets, save for the one he'd had weapons in.

Though she didn't ask many questions, since her seeing bowl had sent herfor him, she wondered who and what he was that he had no need for money, but need for weapons. His clothing was far too fine for him to be a highwayman.

Adela packed his face in clotting mud and went next door for young Neb again.

She only got halfway there though, since she was so bloody tired from dragging the injured boy home.

'Neb,' she called loudly. 'Neb, I've need of you.'

No one came to her call, strangely enough.

Exhausted, she shrugged, and tottered back into the small cottage and busied herself at the stove, heating water for willowbark tisane to counter any fever he might get.

Quickly, she got an old rag and doused it in cool water, placing it on his forehead as she pulled her quartz pendant over her head.

She performed a quick blessing, and made the tisane, sitting down at the table while it steeped and cooled a little.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He woke with the taste of dirt in his mouth and pain lancing from every point on his body. After his groggy mind cleared a bit, he damned the bone armor that formed _under_ his skin, and not quickly enough at that.

From the feel of it, his organs had suffered some squishing, and his skin was all but destroyed.

He'd been sandblasted.

Damn that crazy red haired fool. He and the high and mighty hidden village nin, who would all be better if Orochimaru sama ruled them. Those fools, always at war. Orochimaru sama would make that stop. He would make everything the way it should be. He would have every jutsu ever thought up, and be all powerful, as it should be.

Orochimaru sama was the only one fit to rule anything, anyway.

He left his eyes closed, not wanting to see where he was, since he knew it wasn't his bed at his home in the village of sound. Nothing smelled quite like home, comforting and damp; but he couldn't go home just yet. He was far too weak and damaged; the stupid sickness was taking more than a toll on him since he didn't have Kabuto to make the pain and symptoms go away. It had taken all he had to get to the old woman's house.

He'd been too tired and hurt to kill her, and since she was offering help and dug him out of the sand trap, he'd gone with her and decided not to kill her until later.

_actually_, his face crinkled a little in thought, _Orochimaru sama might be able to use a seer. But the woman was also a healer… She might be able to do something about the degradation of his bodies._ A thrill coursed through Kimimaro at the thought of her being able to do something for him. He might still be able to properly serve Orochimaru sama yet, and become his container.

That could help make up for his abysmal failure with the red haired child and the green spandex wearing mutant. Drunken fist. He'd looked at the boy's style, and it was nothing he could copy without much hard and long training. Pity.

But he couldn't go back. He'd failed. Failure was death to Orochimaru sama. He should have died in the sand pile. Instead he'd been saved by a stupid old bat. Bitch. He should be dead. He'd rather be dead.

But if he wasn't going to be dead yet, he'd take the healer back to Orochimaru sama, and then let her make him the next container. That would please Orochimaru sama. He'd failed, but he lived; so he'd bring back a prize that would make Orochimaru's original plan come to fruition.

His master would like that, after all, he loved Kimimaro; he'd raised him and turned him into the container for his dreams and plans.To be able to fulfill the destiny that he'd been given, even after a failure, would redeem him to Orochimaru sama.

After all, Orochimaru sama was the only one to ever love Kimimaro. He'd raised him, and taught him; he'd turned him into his protégée.

He would do well by his master.

Smiling gently, the light of devotion in his closed eyes, Kimimaro slept and dreamed of his Orochimaru sama, and the victory he would win for him. The scenes were abstract, full of bright blocks of color and very little sense, but the echo of Orochimaru's voice telling Kimimaro how he'd always wanted only him as his container, and was so glad that Kimimaro had found the way to make his dreams come true.

KIMIMARO woke quickly, as was his wont, since Kabuto had a habit of poking him with scalpels and needles when he was supposed to wake. He grabbed the hand that he felt coming towards his head and squeezed, realizing that the loose, papery feeling skin was not the Kabuto demon.

He'd always hated Kabuto. He was as high in Orochimaru sama's regard as Kimimaro himself, which made him burn somewhere in his stomach. Kabuto was a twisted little fuck too, always poking and prodding with needles, hiding his intentions behind his spectacles and sucking up to Orochimaru sama, trying to displace Kimimaro from his affection.

A feminine gasp echoed in what sounded like a fairly small space, and Kimimaro opened his eyes.

'I mean ye no harm, young one,' came the croaky voice. 'I have been healing ye, if ye recall.'

He let go of the hand, realizing that the old woman couldn't harm him even if she tried.

'It is good that ye have awakened.' She went on. 'Ye have been asleep for near a week.'

A week? He'd lost a week? Orochimaru sama must be worried; he'd have likely sent out some men to find him. He'd best get back so his master needn't worry any longer.

'I am well enough old woman,' he grated out, voice raw and whistling slightly through some problem in his face. He sat up and glanced around at the small home. Noting nothing interesting, he found his clothing on a chair by the bed and walked over to get them.

The old woman's scandalized gasp startled him slightly, so he turned to her as he was pulling his pants up. 'Old woman, what is it?'

She was turned away from him, and didn't reply.

He glanced towards where she was looking, and saw nothing out of the ordinary. 'What is it, old woman?' he asked again.

'Ye… ye are not dressed. I cannot look upon ye.' She offered haltingly, waving at him behind her. 'Please, get yourself decent.'

Kimimaro shrugged and pulled on the rest of his clothing. 'Come old woman, you join me.' He told her flatly. 'You will come and serve Orochimaru sama. You may have this privilege as you might be able to do something with the remainder of your life.'

He saw her cringe and wondered why she was doing something so stupid. What a waste of energy.

'I go nowhere. I live here. I am midwife and herb woman for this village,' she told him, turning her wrinkled face to him. 'I have been here since I was birthed, and learned from my ma about healing. I take care of this village till the day I die.' She told him.

'Really.' He said softly. 'You will come with me.' He told her again, tone brooking no argument.

She laughed at him. Admittedly, it was a small, humorless chuckle as she moved to a pot on the stove, but she laughed at him.

He'd bashed her over the head and caught her crumpling form before he'd fully decided what to do.

She'd come with him. He'd told her that. He'd warned her. It was her own fault.

He set her down for a moment as he pulled one of his favorite bone swords from his arm and looked briefly into a looking glass she had in the kitchen.

That was why the words were coming funny. He had a hole in his cheek. But it was stitched shut and starting to heal from the looks of it. There was only a tiny bit of yellowish pus coming from it, and he decided he'd opened the scabs when he'd spoken.

Well then, he thought as he picked up the old woman and slung her limp body over his shoulder, time to get going.

He stepped out into the sun, into a quiet garden, buzzing softly with insects, and glanced around. There seemed to be no one moving at the moment, which would aid him leaving with her.

The hole in his face felt funny under the sun, and it was drying his mouth out too, so he laid the old woman down in the garden, and went inside to grab a swath of material he could use to cover his mouth.

Maybe the Kabuto demon could heal the hole in his face later, but it was best not to let Orochimaru sama see the fact that he could be injured by something other than terminal illness.

He'd be disappointed, and saddened.

Kimimaro wouldn't have Orochimaru sama deciding on another container just because of a little hole in his face.

There was a white silk sash holding one of her curtains in place. It looked clean enough, and wide enough that he could wrap his face in it. So he did, and left the house again, picking up the old woman and slinging her over his shoulder again.

Quickly he got his bearings and held to the fence post at the edge of her garden since he was strangely dizzy. After his head stopped spinning, he used chakra to fuel his leaps towards the forest where he could hide and be relatively safe if he became too ill to move.

He had to pause often, since the old biddy was heavy and he was still weak from his illness and week long recuperation, but he hit the outer edge of the forest her village was in by early evening, and decided it would be a good thing to travel through the night.

Orochimaru sama would be waiting. He would be expected, since Orochimaru sama loved him and wanted to use him as a container. So the sooner he could get there with his prize, the sooner Orochimaru sama would stop worrying and be able to use Kimimaro's body as a container.

It took him four days to reach the hidden village of sound, and thankfully, the old biddy hadn't woken once during the trip, although she was turning a funny color and had been kind of stiff for a while back there. But it didn't matter. He was home, with his prize, and Orochimaru sama would be pleased.

He rested for a few minutes, marshalling his strength since he was still ill and damaged, but it wouldn't do for Orochimaru sama to see him less than strong, so he rested. He didn't want to; he wanted to burst right into Orochimaru sama's library and deliver the old woman and himself to the snake sannin like gifts.

When he had enough strength to burst in like a victorious general instead of a wounded animal, he started walking towards the village.

A few of Orochimaru sama's men rushed to meet him halfway across the field, but for some reason, they had weapons drawn. Most likely because he brought a stranger among them, but he dangled his sword from his free hand anyways. It wouldn't do to let them think he'd become soft or damaged somehow.

_Sabaku no Hime_ That's it for now peeps, I'm sorry for not updating for… four or five months was it? Things have been nuts, but I've not abandoned any of my stories, just a long hiatus.

I'm doing the next chapter after a few months in his time, so you won't know exactly what happens here until it comes through in the plot. I hope none of you mind too much, but I already know what happens, and think it's best to leave it off like this…

Until next time…


	3. Chapter 3

**The Things That He Missed**

**Be warned, this chapter has gone to an M rating for content- mentions of homosexual sex, and semi shota, save for the fact that the young one is more than of age.**

**Chapter 3**

**The Things He Allowed**

Kimimaro stretched languidly, shoulders popping along with his spine and neck. He made a grateful sound to get rid of the uric acid stored between his joints. He took quick stock of his body, realizing just how much his breathing had improved lately.

Perhaps he wasn't terminally ill; briefly he wondered if it had anything to do with Kabuto teme or the dank stone fortress he'd been kept in.

He shrugged it off, not caring as he felt a soft, manicured hand slide down his belly towards his genitals.

Kimi allowed himself a frown. Wasn't she finished yet? 'It'll cost more for another shot,' he warned her quietly.

'I know.' She replied, a throaty purr as she stroked him gently to an erect state. 'I want you to go down on me,' she told him bluntly.

He debated on not doing as she asked and just getting dressed and leaving. But this money stuff was important. He didn't want to think about the first few weeks before he'd figured the concept out; the few weeks he'd been stuck sleeping on the ground and hungry, or when he was nearly arrested for taking food from a vendor and not paying.

Kimimaro had decided that his best chances for being kept fed and housed lay in cities, the larger the better; and though he was no big fan of crowds, food and shelter was important, especially since it was growing colder. He'd had nothing but the thin silk clothing on his back, the ones that had been almost ruined when he'd come to this village.

He did as the female asked him to do, knowing that he would be well-compensated for doing these things with her. The first time had been difficult, since he'd had no clue of what he was supposed to do. The woman who had hired Kimi, calling herself Anna, had shown him how she liked to be pleased in exchange for shelter and a meal.

Kimi hadn't yet decided why he didn't just take food and not do these things for this money stuff.

Well, yes he did. Orochimaru had taught him that nothing, not even affection was ever free. Everything came with a price attached, even if it wasn't a monetary price; especially affection. Affection came with all sorts of chains and strings, most of them requiring either success at something difficult, or the unconditional gift of his body to another for their own purposes.

This wasn't that different he'd found.

He finished the task the female had set before him, looking up to her face to find her flushed and panting, begging for him to take her. Kimimaro gritted his teeth, slipped on a prophylactic and did as she asked; adjusting him until he was hitting the internal spot that Anna had shown him. The female's cries and grunts echoed through the small hostel room, telling him he was doing what he was supposed to.

When her final, long groan came oozing out of her swollen, wet mouth, he pulled himself out and removed the cover he'd used.

'Nine,' she addressed him with the name he'd given her. 'Thank you, Nine.'

'I will shower now and be on my way,' he told her quietly. 'Please leave the money on the bedside table and stay as long as you wish,' Kimimaro then turned to walk to the common baths at the base of the hostel. Naked bodies were nothing new in a place like this he'd found. Maybe he'd drum up some more custom if he was lucky.

Kimi had found that his shiny white hair and youthful upper face drew people like flies to honey. He kept his lower face masked for the most part, since he'd noticed bad reactions to the small hole and large scar on his lower face. His body was more than enough to satisfy them, and he found one or two repeat customers in this particular city.

From his first few cities as well, he'd found that it was better _not_ to kill his customers and take their money, since he'd nearly been thrown in jail for the death of a fat, angry salesman who'd tried to spread Kimi's rear cheeks and take him that way. He'd nearly had to kill a dozen local law enforcers until he'd decided it would be prudent to run in his weak state.

He'd still never let a customer do that to him, although he'd found many, many males and females that would pay very, very well to be taken thusly. That he didn't mind so much.

Kimi shivered at the remembered feeling of the salesman wetting his finger in his mouth, then trying to shove it up Kimi's ass. He had found it uncomfortable, and not something he cared to have done to him.

He hoped the baths were empty, since he wasn't really in the mood to make conversation at the moment.

But, to his disappointment, there were several people in the baths when he walked in. He sighed dejectedly when he noticed several people copulating at one side of the landing above the baths. It appeared to be two men and three women. So much for a peaceful bath, and he didn't want group custom.

He wondered how much each of them got paid to do things like that to each other, or if the two men had gone halves to pay for the women.

Silently, Kimi sank into the steaming water and began to cleanse himself. Thankfully, the water was near boiling point, almost as hot as a human could stand it, so not too much of the disgusting stuff that happened around the area would survive in heat like that.

He leaned back against the gently sloping tiles of the headrests ringing the bath and closed his eyes. He had no need to see several people doing things to each other. Kimi really didn't want to hear it, either, but he couldn't politely cover his ears to choke out the squeals and grunts coming from the group copulation nearby. He almost found himself admiring the near-realism of the women's groans and moans until he realized that was likely how he sounded too.

Quickly, he washed his hair and soaped his body to remove the sweat and sticky fluid of the woman he'd allowed to have him for the night. After rinsing off, Kimi noticed a man sitting in the far corner of the tub, staring at a spot below his waist with unmistakable hunger in his gaze.

Not really interested, Kimi got his towel and made to leave until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

'Yes.' Kimi said coldly, knowing exactly who it was. The man from the tub.

He knew the man would present no problem, since he gave off no trained chakra signature, nor any deadly intent. Only a vast, voracious sexual hunger. Kimi was slightly fascinated by that hunger. What could possibly cause it? What could make someone _hungry_ like that? Was this another castoff of Orochimaru? Or was there something else in this trash-laden land that could make one feel so empty and hungry, dying for some sort of fulfillment?

'A handsome young man like you shouldn't be unprotected in a city like this,' the man offered in a thick, creamy voice. Kimimaro could scent the fresh aqua scent of the man's soap and slightly heavier scent of shampoo over the scent of sexual desire radiating off the man.

'I am not unprotected,' Kimimaro replied honestly.

'Who do you work with, then?' the man asked. 'This is my area of town. It's all my own men and women here.'

'Do you own the hostel then?' Kimi found himself asking.

'I'm a partner, yes,' the man offered in a dark double entendre.

'I work for myself,' Kimi replied, starting to walk towards the door back into the hostel proper.

'Not in my area, you don't,' the man started to growl. 'I don't allow freelancers here. The concierge must have thought you belong to me or else you wouldn't be here.'

'Tch,' Kimi said coldly. 'Do you think to make trouble then?' he asked goadingly.

'I might,' the man replied, glancing down at Kimi's nude body. Kimi glanced down quickly, wondering what the man was staring at; he wasn't hard, so it couldn't be that.

'Then I think I would pity you,' Kimi replied, cocking his head. 'I have been told that pity is an emotion that one feels for someone who is…' he trailed off as the man smirked and grabbed him.

'I might be able to make an exception this time,' he smirked, running a hand up Kimi's chest.

'Good then,' Kimi replied. 'But I am uninterested right now. I have just finished cleansing myself. I have no interest in finding new bodily fluids on me.'

'Really?' the man smirked, and Kimi realized that the guy had to be almost fifty years old. That was older than even Orochimaru, wasn't it?

The man held Kimi's manhood tightly and said 'I suggest you come with me, boy, or I'll rip it off,'

'Tch,' Kimi replied, debating whether or not to kill the guy. He was a townsman, and obviously influential since he owned a hostel. Perhaps it would be best not to make a fuss? He followed the man though, debating on pulling out the finger bone bullets and putting one in the man's temple.

He smiled in satisfaction. He'd do so if the man wanted to spread his rear cheeks, he told himself.

The man led him to a small room just inside the hostel. It appeared to be a rather large broom closet with a few blankets on the floor and a couple of pillows. With the light of day pouring in, he could see the yellowed stains from past encounters.

'What do you want?' Kimi asked quietly. 'I charge a fair bit for men, you know.'

'Oh,' the man chuckled. 'I won't be paying. I'll be making an exception for a freelancer in my building,' he went on.

'Tch,' Kimi offered. 'A thousand,' he said quietly. 'And not a ryou less.'

'Heh,' the man laughed, reaching down to touch himself. 'I don't pay in my own building.'

'Then I have no business with you,' Kimi said. 'I'll be going now,'

'Not so fast,' the man said, rushing over to lock the door.

Kimi smirked and decided to play along for a bit. He could always make it stop when he felt like it, he reasoned. Besides, it might be a good moment to practice his innocent persona. Men seemed to like that.

Kimi widened his bright green eyes and raised his brows, drawing attention to the clan markings above them. 'You don't mean to…?' he asked, wide-eyed innocent.

The man smirked evilly. 'Yes, little boy, I intend to,' he replied. 'I'm going to make you bleed until you agree to work for me.'

Kimi slumped his shoulders in disappointment. 'Is that it?' he asked. He offered his engineered vulnerability to the man to play, and he offered torment? 'You are trash. I should clean up,' he mused to himself.

'Trash?' the man growled, furious as he launched himself the foot and a half to Kimi's front.

The last thing he ever saw was Kimimaro's smirk as he was hugged tighter to the small boy's chest. He felt pressure and a little pain where their chests touched, and he found himself coughing a bit, with something wet and warm spewing up while he was at it.

'Trash,' was all Kimi said.

XXXXXXXXXXX Break

Kimimaro walked back up to the room he'd rented with the curvy, voluptuous woman for the night. She was gone when he got there, but there was a small envelope with a note attached and a good deal of ryou inside.

He counted it and smiled. She'd left him more than he'd asked. If he fed himself modestly and provisioned himself lightly, he'd need not do something like that again for a month or two.

He grinned. He wasn't a big fan of letting his body out to strangers, but that was the price he paid. He had been willing to give his entire body and soul to Orochimaru, why not rent it out to others when he could get something in return besides affection, which required way too much work.

Kimi allowed himself to quickly scan the note before tossing it. Blah blah, blah. It was all about thank you and next time her cheating husband was with his hussy, she hoped he'd be free to work his magic again…blah, blah blah. She'd enclosed a little extra that he might get himself a decent coat. Blah, blah… it was getting cold outside…

He tossed it. That was the problem with whoring to fifty year old women. They tended to treat his twenty three year old self like a son or nephew as well as a sex toy.

When he bothered to think about it, he thought most people would find it disturbing. He assumed so at least. Especially considering the looks they'd gotten cuddling over dinner in a nice restaurant while she petted him and told him to eat and gain some weight.

Kimi'd found it less than difficult to do things to her. Her body had been soft and warm, breasts sagging and slightly deflated. The stretch marks on her body had all been old and silvered with age and her skin had dimpled pleasantly under his hands.

He smirked to himself, pocketing the money and walked slowly out of the hostel. He figured he'd be out of town by nightfall and would miss the brouhaha that would result from the violent death of an influential townsman.

But… it wasn't murder. It had been cleaning up the trash. The man had threatened him. The man had been about to do things to him to make Kimi bleed again.

He shrugged and walked on.

On his way out of the nameless city, he stopped at a street vendor for something to eat. His stomach had been growling since he'd awakened, and using the kekkei genkai always wore off a lot of fuel. He got some imported fish soup over rice and some tempura vegetables with beef to nibble on as he walked.

Eventually, he found a clothing shop with pre-made clothes for sale. He found himself inside, eating and browsing through the clothing.

It was all of rougher material than he was used to wearing, very little silk, but it all seemed heavier. That would help him maintain his body heat when he didn't have to be in a town. He ended up picking out a few pairs of heavy cotton pants tied with drawstring and loose around the leg with several thin, close fitting shirts that he could layer if he felt the need.

Disappointingly, due to neglect and many days and nights spent sleeping on the ground, his comfortable silken clothing was wearing thin and had a few small rents in it. His mouth made a small moue of disgust as he thought about how everything ends up being trash at some point. Clothing, bodies, himself…

Some sundries and socks, a heavy canvas olive drab jacket and sturdy, calf high boots later he felt ready to leave the city.

He wasn't displeased with his purchases, but the weight of them on his back made him irritable. It would slow down his movement some, and he knew that unless he wanted to waste several hundreds of ryou worth of clothing, he couldn't even use his kekkei genkai to protect his back aside from the under skin shield.

With a dark sigh, he walked on, away from the village, following one of the trade roads for a while.

Kimi didn't feel like getting too close to another village until he had somewhere to hide set up. That way he could grab the food he could not hunt or forage from a village and port it back quickly, and without the added stress of needing to find a place to unload all of the accumulated weight.

XXXXXXXXXXXX Break

Kimimaro stepped off the trade road with an almost audible sigh of relief. He'd become sick of hiding his chakra from other shinobi, and although he was most certainly a match for almost any one of them, or a group of them, he didn't want to leave a bloody trail in his wake.

He wanted to save that for the spring when he felt like coming out of hiding.

_Then_ he'd leave a bloody trail. He'd carve a bloody swath through the countryside as his family had done before him. He would show Orochimaru that Kaguya Kimimaro was still a very important, very much needed individual.

Kaguya Kimimaro was _not_ trash to be thrown away.

But until then, he'd decided that he would hide, making sure his kekkei genkai did not suffer from lack of practice. Train himself in what taijutsu and ninjutsu he knew, and when he came out from his hole, he'd show the whole of the shinobi world that they _all_ needed and wanted Kaguya Kimimaro to be _theirs_.

Of course, the only place he'd go is back to Otogakure, but that was beside the point.

Kimimaro scented the air, tasting the crisp chill in the air and the cloying scent of burning leaves off in the distance. He was currently in Iwa territory, and found himself slightly uncomfortable with all the chill, strong winds blowing around small rock particles.

Break

Two weeks later Kimi had come upon a small hut up in the foothills of one of the many mountains surrounding Earth country. There had been no one inside, and a thick layer of dust, so he set himself up there.

As he was disposing of the trash and dust in the hut, he noticed dark, old bloodstains on the floor. He simply smirked a bit and kept cleaning.

'I suppose someone took out the trash before I could,' he mused

Soon enough, he grew bored. There was nothing to do but train, and no one to talk to, not that he minded that part, but he was used to others being around. He was used to avoiding Kabuto as much as possible, which he didn't have to do now.

Since he had no reason to hide in shadows or take caution moving about, he found he had far more time on his hands.

Atop that, there was no more Orochimaru sama to praise him in that smoothly sibilant voice of his. No Orochimaru sama to give him orders, or tell him to get back to Kabuto so he could be healed.

Briefly, he recalled a moment from his past, locked in a cage in a dungeon like structure, ignored, cold and scared; he had been taken from his cell to kill. He was manhandled roughly by the trashy nins in his clan, and taken to help them fight.

Kimi briefly sighed in relief that the trash in his clan had been taken care of. If he so felt the urge, he would be able to start the clan anew, without the trash.

His lip curled at the thought.

Servicing some trashy woman as he'd had to when he required money, just to make more nins. He didn't feel like he'd wish to do that any time soon, if ever. Maybe he should just let the clan die with himself.

He blew air out of the small hole still in his cheek through the mask he'd gotten. He'd figured it was best to keep such a large scar hidden in villages for the most part, and had just developed a liking for wearing it. He didn't have to worry about the dust and dirt in the air coming into his mouth through the hole in his face, so he kept it on, saving himself some grit.

After he'd been in the hut for several weeks, enjoying the peace and dying of boredom, he'd finally been able to sense a group of chakra signatures coming towards him. Winter was coming, and he hadn't planned on coming up for air before spring, but if trash was _coming_ to him to be taken care of, well, he could come out early.

TBC

**SNH** we're having massive trouble making him insane. Oh my gawd, I hate this chapter, but I just had to pump something out, since my block is four months old. I'm not averse to making changes, obviously, if there are some suggestions, or maybe help -KOTPF- if you're still reading this, HELP me please!

This was all filler, and me trying to make Kimimaro insane as he should be. It's not working. Action starts next chapter, and I'll try to do betta.


	4. Hiatus

The Things He Missed Along the Way

The Things He Missed Along the Way

This is not a chapter.

This story is on hiatus or abandoned since I've not written in over eight months.

If you would like to take this story to finish it off, please do, just give a note on the chapters I've written please.

I will be updating Call Me.

Sorry for any inconvenience


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